First chapters
by D the Stampede
Summary: A place to put the first chapters of various story ideas I have. Starting with Harry One-Half and A Different Saotome Family. Shoot me a PM if you're interested in picking up a story and writing your own version.
1. Harry One-Half 1

Disclaimer-Just barrowing Harry and friends for a while, J. K., please don't sue. Also, the concept of Jusenkyo comes from Ranma One-Half, which belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

A/N-Scene One is directly from Chamber of Secrets.

D the Stampede presents

Harry One-Half

Chapter One-A Different Wrong Turn.

One

Mrs. Weasley woke them all early the following Wednesday. After a quick half a dozen bacon sandwiches each, they pulled on their coats and Mrs. Weasley took a flowerpot off the kitchen mantelpiece and peered inside.

"We're running low, Arthur," She sighed, "We'll have to buy some more today. Ah well, guests first! After you, Harry dear!"

And she offered him the flower pot.

Harry stared at them all watching him.

W-what am I supposed to do?" He stammered.

"He's never traveled by Floo powder," said Ron suddenly, "Sorry, Harry, I forgot."

"Never?" said Mr. Weasley, "But how did you get to Daigon Alley to buy your school things last year?"

"I went on the underground-"

"Really?" said Mr. Weasley eagerly, "Were there _escapators? _How exactly-"

"Not _now, _Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley. "Floo powder's a lot quicker, dear, but goodness me, if you've never used it before-"

"He'll be all right, Mum," said Fred. "Harry, watch us first."

He took a pinch of glittering powder out of the flowerpot, stepped up to the fire and threw the powder into the flames.

With a roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose higher than Fred, who stepped right into it, shouted, "Daigon Alley!" and vanished.

"You must speak clearly, dear," Mrs. Weasley told Harry as George dipped his hand into the flowerpot. "And be sure to get out at the right grate…"

"The right what?" said Harry nervously as the fire roared and whipped George out of sight, too.

"Well, there are an awful lot of wizard fires to choose from you know, but as long as you've spoken clearly-"

"He'll be fine, Molly, don't fuss," said Mr. Weasley, helping himself to Floo powder, too.

"But, dear, if he got lost, how would we ever explain to his aunt and uncle?"

"They wouldn't mind," Harry reassured her. "Dudley would think it was a brilliant joke if I got lost up a chimney, don't worry about that-"

"Well… All right… You go after Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley. "Now, when you get into the fire, say where you're going-"

"And keep your elbows tuck in," Ron advised.

"And your eyes shut," said Mrs. Weasley. "The soot-"

"Don't fidget," said Ron. "Or you might well fall out of the wrong fireplace-"

"But don't panic and get out too early; wait until you see Fred and George."

Trying hard to bear all this in mind, Harry took a pinch of Floo powder and walked to the edge of the fire. He took a deep breath, scattered the powder into the flames, and stepped forward; the fire felt like a warm breeze; he opened his mouth and immediately swallowed a lot of hot ash.

"D-Dia-gon Alley," He coughed.

It felt like he was being sucked down a giant drain. He seemed to be spinning very fast-the roaring in his ears was deafening-he tried to keep his eyes open but the whirl of green flames made him feel sick-something hard knocked his elbow and he tucked it in tightly, still spinning and spinning-now it felt as though cold hands were slapping his face-squinting through his glasses he saw a blurred stream of fireplaces and snatched glimpses of the rooms beyond-his bacon sandwiches were churning inside him-he closed his eyes again wishing it would stop, and then-

Two

He fell face first out of a fireplace, landing hard on a stone floor and his glasses jammed into the bridge of his nose painfully before snapping. Dizzy, bruised and covered in soot, he climbed up onto his feet and looked around into the room, quickly realizing he had no idea where he was. It was obviously a potions laboratory of some sort what with all of the cauldrons bubbling over fires and ingredients lining the wall except for one, which selves were full of what looked to be jars of water. In the middle of it all, a man sat in a wooden chair, looking for all intents to be fast asleep while sitting up, his head lolling forward as he snored softly. Holding his broken glasses up to his face, Harry examined the man more closely. If not for the wands he had holstered to each forearm, Harry would have mistaken the man for a muggle due to his clothes, which were a plain white T-shirt over jeans and work-boots of muggle manufacture. The man's brown hair was in a buzz-cut, but he had two or three days' worth of beard on his face.

Coughing up some soot, Harry approached the man and said, "Excuse me, sir, where am I?" Continued snored was his only answer, so he lightly tapped the man's shoulder to get his attention. And then Harry found himself flying through the air for his trouble. He then crashed into the wall beneath the jars of water. Hurriedly turning around and pointing his wand at the man who had just thrown him across the room, Harry found that he was still sitting there, blearily blinking himself awake.

"Hey, kid, what're you doing here?" the man asked through a yawn, "Nobody's supposed to be here right now." He continued as he finished waking up and stood. Then, his eyes widening in alarm, he shouted, "Get away from there!" his warning came too late however as one of the jars came crashing down atop Harry's head, knocking him out.

Three

Harry awoke to a shouting female voice, "John, how many times do I have to tell you not to sleep in my bloody lab!"

"Well, seeing as I'm not around very much, not that often."

"Bloody Americans! If not for the fact you're as skilled at muggle dueling as you are at magical, I'd kick your arse for you! Do you even realize what you've done! You've given the bloody Boy-who-lived a Jusenkyo curse!" the female voice shouted some more.

"Curse!" Harry shouted, wide awake now, before wincing. He had an enormous headache.

"Crank the volume down a few notches, Anne. He's awake. And it looks like he has a bad headache." The man, John, replied to the woman.

"Fine," she huffed, "I'm going to get him a headache potion. You can explain what you've done."

Sighing, John handed Harry his repaired glasses, "Harry, I've got a lot of explaining to do to you, but first, I'm sorry."

"For what? And what was that about a curse?" Harry asked.

"For the curse, of course. And look down at your body," sighed John while gesturing towards it.

Harry did, noticing for the first time that they had moved him from the potions lab into a bedroom and he was currently lying in a bed. The second thing he noticed was two small bumps on his chest that he shouldn't have. Slowly, with a shaking hand, he checked further down and confirmed his fear. He was a girl. That confirmed, he screamed; and was doused hot water.

"Why'd you do that?" he shouted.

"To turn you back," said John.

"Huh?" said Harry, checking himself and finding he was a boy again, "If it was temporary, why'd you scare me like that?"

"Because it isn't temporary; cold water will turn you into a girl again until you find hot water to change yourself back again. It was the jar of water that hit you in the head that did this."

"How could water do that?"

"That's a bit of a story, Harry," John stated, "But I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? John Smith, at your service."

It was at this point that the woman who had been shouting at John returned, "John Smith, royal pain in the arse, more like." Upon seeing her, Harry noticed something unusual about her to say the least. She had the ears, eyes and tail of a cat. Noticing Harry's stare, she said, "Animagus mishap, dear, I'm permanently stuck between forms. Name's Anne Hathaway." She introduced herself, handing Harry a potion bottle. At Harry's look, she added, "Just a simple headache potion, dear."

At Anne's pointed look, John coughed and said, "Right. The water came from a place Chinese wizards know as Jusenkyo. It's a place of wild magic in the backend of China. Within is a valley with over a hundred springs that are cursed to turn you into what drown there with a splash of cold water. As I've showed you, hot water returns you to your real form. However, for all that is known about Jusenkyo, even more is unknown. How it was created, why, any cures to a curse, all of these are unknown."

"If the springs are in China, how did jars of the water get here?" asked Harry.

"Well besides being a Potion Mistress Anne here is a bit of a mad scientist," said John, receiving a cuff to the shoulder for the description from Anne, "Anyways, she somehow heard about the place and insisted on me smuggling samples back here for her to study."

"I paid you quite well for that," Anne hissed at John.

"Didn't say you didn't," John replied before turning back to Harry and asking, "So what's your part of the story here?"

"First time traveling by Floo powder, I meant to go to Diagon Alley to pick up my school things with the Weasleys."

"The Weasleys? Good lot of people, them, but what about your guardians?" Anne asked.

"My magic hating muggle Aunt and Uncle, the Dursleys," said Harry.

John locked eyes with Harry for a long moment before his greyish-blue eyes turned icy and he said, "Well, that's a match made in hell. Who arranged for you to be raised by them?"

"John, you did not just use Legilimency on a child!" Anne snapped, hitting John on the shoulder again.

"Just a surface scan," John defended, "Besides, what it uncovered…"

"What's Legilimency?"

"And what did it uncover?"

"One at a time!" John exclaimed before continuing, "Harry, Legilimency is an obscure branch of magic that lets one look into the mind of others. Anne, those muggles abuse and neglect Harry here."

"You read my mind?" Harry squeaked.

"No, minds aren't read like a book." Anne explained, "They are too complex and multi-layered, but a skilled Legilimens like John can enter the mind and interpret what they find correctly in the right circumstances."

"I'll ask again." John stated, "Who sent you to live with those muggles?"

"Um, professor Dumbledore," Harry answered.

"Shit! Albus too-many-titles Dumbledore would be your magical guardian. Old man must be slipping to think shipping you to them was a good idea." John snapped.

"That was almost an insult, John," said Anne.

"I hate magical Britain. Half kiss Dumbledore's ass, half of you are blood-purists and your ministry is incompetent and in the blood-purists' pockets." John groaned, rolling his eyes. Anne punched him in the shoulder again. "Quit that!" John exclaimed before turning to Harry and saying, "Well, kid, let's go find the Weasleys."

Four

After walking down a set of stairs and stopping so John could put on a black vest made of what Harry guessed were dragon scales, Harry and John walked through Anne's potion shop out into a dark, narrow street that definitely was not Daigon Alley. "Well, welcome to Knockturn Alley, Harry. Keep your head down, don't look around and follow me. We'll be in Daigon Alley in no time. Still don't know why Anne doesn't get premises in Daigon Alley," John said, leading Harry towards the end of the alley. Once there, they emerged out into bright sunlight. Blinking as his eyes adjusted from the gloom of Knockturn Alley, Harry found they had come out near the bright white marble of Gringotts Bank. "Right, now to find a hoard of redheads," John said mostly to himself.

"Err, do you know the Weasleys?"

"Met Arthur a couple times before when I actually had to deal with the ministry. Nice guy, even if the one time he was busting me for illegal magical modifications to my bike."

"Oh."

They didn't go far before a familiar voice cried out, "Harry!"

They turned to find Hermione rushing towards them, "Friend of yours, Harry?" asked John even as Hermione pulled Harry into a bone-crushing hug.

"Hermione, I can't breathe," wheezed Harry.

"Oh, sorry," She said, letting go, "It's just that you had everyone worried, disappearing like that."

"I would like to say it was just a case of him exiting the wrong fireplace, but it's a bit more complicated than that," said John.

"Everyone?" asked Harry.

"The Weasleys, my parents and even Hagrid are looking for you," Hermione replied.

John smacked his forehead and muttered to himself, "Why didn't I think of it earlier?" He then brandished one of his wands and called out, "Expecto patronum!" A silver eagle then shot out of the end of his wand and flew off into the distance.

"What was that?" asked Harry.

"It's called a patronus charm. Its main use is protection from certain dark creatures, but it also can be used to send messages," John explained, "It's very advanced magic. You won't learn about it for years."

Soon enough, Mr. Weasley came running up to them, followed by the rest of the Weasleys, Hagrid and the Grangers.

Harry received another bone-crushing hug from Mrs. Weasley, who exclaimed, "There you are, Harry, dear. You had us all so worried."

Meanwhile, Mr. Weasley spoke to John, "I knew the voice of that patronus was familiar. John Smith, how have you been? And where did you find Harry?"

"I'm fine, for now anyway," John replied, "And you could say he found me," Then, looking at his wrist watch, he added, "Why don't we head to the Leaky Cauldron for a bite of lunch and I'll explain."

Five

And so, the gathered party went to the Leaky Cauldron and John explained what had happened. This included an accidental demonstration of the curse itself when Ginny spilled her pumpkin juice. John was hexed by Mrs. Weasley for cursing Harry. It was this second time in his cursed form that Harry noticed that while it was as wild as ever, his hair turned red in female form. Then, saying their goodbyes to John and Hagrid, Harry, the Weasleys and the Grangers finally headed to Gringotts before heading off to do their school shopping. Their day was Malfoy-free at least, thanks to their later start.


	2. A Different Saotome Family 1

Disclaimer-Still a white American guy, still don't own Ranma One-Half!

"Blah,"-speech

'Blah,'-thoughts

D the Stampede presents

A Different Saotome Family

Chapter One- Here's the Saotomes?

One

We open upon what is a very familiar scene to Ranma One-Half fans by this point. That is a mustached man with shoulder-length hair in a brown gi openly crying while reading a postcard. This was Tendo Soun. "Ranma, coming here? Oh, how I've waited for this day!" he exclaimed before calling out for his daughters, "Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane!"

Kasumi was to be found in the kitchen cutting a watermelon in half when he found her. "Yes, daddy?" she asked.

Nabiki was in her room lounging on her bed and reading while sucking on a Popsicle.

As for Akane, well, she was returning home from a jog and went straight back by the dojo to break bricks. This was where Nabiki found her. "There you go again, Akane. No wonder all the boys think you're so weird."

"So why should I care?" Akane replied, "Not everyone thinks the world revolves around boys, Nabiki."

"No?" Nabiki said, "Then I guess this wouldn't interest you."

"Fiancé?" the girls exclaimed once their father had told them why he had called a family meeting at the dining room table.

"Yes, the son of a very good friend of mine. The son's name is Saotome Ranma. If one of you three girls were to marry him and carry on the Dojo then the Tendo family legacy would be secure." Soun replied.

"Wait a minute!" Akane exclaimed, "Don't we have some say in who we marry?"

"Akane's right," Kasumi agreed, "We've never even met this Ranma."

Nabiki meanwhile just took a sip of her drink while Soun simply chuckled and said, "That's easily fixed."

Two

Meanwhile, in the now rainy street nearby a red-haired girl in an oversized Chinese silk shirt and Kung Fu pants combo did battle with a panda while a growing crowd looked on. Also watching the battle progress was a red-haired woman in a gi who strongly resembled the girl except for the fact that she had cat ears, eyes and a tail. "Cut that out!" the girl demanded of the panda when it attempted to grab her. This was punctuated by her kicking the panda in the face, knocking it down and sending it sliding down the street.

As the panda stood back up, a bystander asked another, "Say, isn't that a panda?"

He replied, "That is a panda, isn't it?"

A third asked the woman with the cat features, "Aren't you a little old for cosplay?"

"Your move," the girl said to the panda. It obliged with a series of punches. "Well, I still say this whole thing sucks!" The girl exclaimed as she caught the panda's forelimb mid-punch and continuing as she threw it to the ground, "Picking my Fiancee for me without even asking!" Then after a moment of standing over the seemingly unconscious panda, she turned away from it and said, "I'm going back to China, father!"

"Now, Ranma," the cat-woman said, "Your father's agreement with Tendo-san goes back before you were born and is a matter of honor between our two families."

The fight went out of the girl with a sigh as she said, "Alright, mom."

"And you can put down that street sign, dear," the cat-woman said to the now armed panda creeping up on the girl.

"What the hell was that all about?" A bystander asked no one in particular as the odd trio went on their way. No one answered.

Three

Back at the Tendo house, Soun continued speaking, "The Saotome family have been on a voyage of training. Recently, it seems, they went to China."

"Wow! China!" Nabiki exclaimed, leaning forward onto the table.

"What's so great about going to China?" Akane asked.

"Is he cute?" Nabiki wanted to know.

"How old is he? Younger men bore me." Kasumi put in, "What kind of guy is this Ranma?"

With a nervous laugh, Soun said, "No idea."

"No idea?" Nabiki demanded with a glare.

"I've never met him," Soun replied.

It was at this moment that there was a knock at the front door. "We have visitors!" Kasumi exclaimed.

Soun and Nabiki rushed towards the front door. "Oh, it must be Ranma!" Nabiki exclaimed.

At the same time, Soun shouted, "Saotome, my old friend! We've been waiting!"

Kasumi and Akane were less enthusiastic, walking instead of running. 'I do hope he's older,' Kasumi thought.

'How depressing! Boys!' was what went through Akane's mind.

As they caught up to the more enthusiastic members of the family, they found Nabiki standing there while Soun made conversation with a cat-woman in a Gi while a younger person and a panda stood behind her. "Nodoka, it's good to see you again," their father was saying, "But when did you take up cosplay? And where's Saotome?"

"That's complicated," the woman replied, turning to glare at the panda.

"And you must be Ranma," Soun said to the younger person, "Oh, how I've waited to meet you!" With that he hugged Ranma. This was when he felt something odd. He promptly held Ranma out to arm's length.

After a moment of silence, Nabiki poked one of Ranma's breasts. "Um, could you stop that?" Ranma asked.

"He is a girl," Nabiki stated with a glare at her father.

Soun fainted.

"Oh, dear, your father is as emotional as ever, isn't he?" Nodoka said, "Now we'll have to wait until he wakes to explain. In the meantime, I don't suppose you could get us some hot water? Dear, could you pick up your friend? He's going to be terribly uncomfortable if we leave him there like that."

Four

"Oh, how to begin?" Nodoka questioned no one in particular after Soun woke up, once again in tears, "Oh, I suppose with a demonstration." She answered herself, "Ranma, come here."

"Um… Do I have to, mom?" Ranma asked, 'They're going to think we're freaks!'

"Yes, dear," Nodoka insisted.

"Alright," Ranma replied as she took the kettle of hot water from her mother and poured some over her head. And promptly grew several inches as her hair turned black and her breasts flattened. In short, she almost instantly became a he. Then, Nodoka took the kettle from her now son and poured some on herself and her cat features disappeared. Finally, the panda changed into a middle-aged Gi-clad man wearing sports glasses and a bandanna over his balding head.

"Saotome!" Soun exclaimed, "How did this happen to you?"

"Well…" the man now identified as Soun's friend began.

"I think I'll tell them, dear." Nodoka said coldly, "It began two weeks ago in China."

Five

"Here, sirs and ma'am. Is legendary training grounds of Jusenkyo," A stocky middle-aged Chinese man in a Communist uniform told the Saotome family in broken Japanese as he showed them to the valley of springs with bamboo stalks sticking out of them.

"Are you prepared, Ranma?" Genma asked.

"This place isn't so impressive," Ranma replied.

"You very strange one, no, sir? This place very dangerous. No one use anymore. Is more than one hundred spring here and every one have own tragic legend!" the guide said.

However, his words fell on deaf ears when it came to the men in the Saotome family. "Ranma, follow me!" Genma exclaimed, jumping onto a nearby bamboo stalk with Ranma just behind him.

"Ah, sirs, what you doing?" the guide shouted.

"Excuse me, Guide-san, what seems to be the problem?" Nodoka asked.

"Springs cursed. Person who fall in become what drown in them," the guide explained in his broken Japanese.

"What? You expect me to believe…" Nodoka started to say only to be interrupted by a splash as Ranma succeeded in kicking his father into one of the springs.

"Oh no!" the guide exclaimed.

"Is that it, father? Are we done already?" Ranma asked his still submerged father. This was when Genma erupted from the spring in the form of a panda to land on one of the bamboo poles in front of Ranma.

"Sir fall in the Spring of Drown Panda. There is tragic legend of panda that drown there two thousand year ago! Now whoever fall in that spring take body of panda!" the guide exclaimed as Genma-panda attacked the surprised Ranma and knocked him into another spring, "Oh, not Spring of Drown Girl! There is tragic legend of girl who drown in spring one thousand five hundred year ago! Now whoever fall in that spring take body of girl."

"Father," the irate, female and red-headed Ranma growled, "Me and mom are having panda steaks for dinner!"

As she prepared to attack her father, her mother stepped in front of her and started to say, "Ranma, before you kill your father…" At which point Ranma threw her aside and she landed in another spring.

"Oh no, sir throw mother into spring of drown cat!" the guide exclaimed.

This snapped Ranma out of her rage, "What?" she said as a red-furred cat emerged from the spring, "Oh no, father is a panda and I turned mom into a cat! Quick, is there a way to change back?"

"Hot water reverse transformation until you hit with cold again," the guide supplied.

"Umm, I was talking something more permanent," Ranma replied.

"Well, Spring of Drown Man should cure you and father, but it location lost. Spring of Drown Girl cure mother, maybe?" the guide said. Ranma immediately dunked the cat that was her mother in the Spring of Drown Girl only for a red-haired cat-woman to emerge. "Oh, another tragedy! Springs mix!" the guide exclaimed.

Six

"And that's the story of our curses," Nodoka concluded, "All because I let my fool of a husband lead us through China when he neither spoke or read the language."

"Well, then your problem isn't so terrible after all," Soun said to Ranma, "These are my daughters, Kasumi, Nineteen, Nabiki, Seventeen, and Akane, Sixteen. Choose the one you want, she'll be your fiancée."

"Oh, he wants Akane," Kasumi said.

"Oh, definitely!" Nabiki agreed.

"You must be joking!" Akane exclaimed.

"I agree," Nodoka stated, "They are all too young to get married, for one thing. For another, they don't even know each other."

"But the engagement must be fulfilled, No-chan," Genma whined.

"Yes, it's a matter of honor," Soun was quick to agree.

"Which I reminded Ranma of when he objected to the agreement on the way here," Nodoka replied, "I'm not saying we don't honor the agreement, just that we give them time to get to know each other and choose for themselves.

A/N

And so, D starts another story. Please read and Review!


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